Free practice

Zumerle stands out

Pietro Zumerle was focused from the off. He wasted no time in getting his Valencia weekend off to a solid start in what is the penultimate round of the Trofeo Maserati GranTurismo MC.

His time of 1:45.538 in the first session at a sweltering “Ricardo Tormo” circuit topped the timesheet. Behind Zumerle came Sergio Rota (1:46.409), who showed he feels very much at home here and was the lead man for most of the session. In third is the Director of MotorMedia magazine, Paolo Necchi, who maintained his pace after collecting a win at Oschersleben in Germany. Next up came Gaetano Ardagna Perez whose time of 1:47.393 was set on his ninth lap. Smurra, driving a Swiss Team car making its debut in Maserati’s single-make series, placed fifth. Overall leaders Goldstein/Sundberg came in sixth, followed by the returning Francesco Maggi and by La Mazza. Valencia will see two journalists get behind the wheel: Jaime Hernandez from El Mundo and Fernando Gomez Blanco from Automovil magazine. Blanco, from Madrid, edged this personal battle but only a few tenths separated them (1:50.575 against 1:50.591; ninth against tenth). Bringing up the rear is Segler, Frazza and Pawlicek. The Spanish stage will see the GT4s once again appearing. They will compete in a separate category to the GranTurismo MC Trofeo drivers. Best of the GT4s was Stefano Gai (1:47.145 and fourth overall) with series leader, Frenchman Sicart, coming second in his category and tenth in all. New on the scene is Dario Bertanza who will be making his GT4 debut in this weekend’s two races.

Stefano Gai quickest in the rain

17/09/2010
- Valencia

The rain was forecast and it arrived bang on time as the drivers rolled out for the second Trofeo Maserati free practice session at Valencia.

Fastest on the track was Stefano Gai (2:01.398) who made the most of the characteristics of the Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4. The cars in this category have less horsepower and narrower tyres which help in the wet. This making things easier for them than the Trofeos towards the end of the session. Early on, a number of drivers contested top spot, even if for a few minutes each: Necchi, Sundberg, La Mazza and Zumerle. Zumerle topped his class with 2:01.556 to repeat this morning’s performance. Behind him came Paolo Necchi (2:02.356), with Francesco Maggi taking third in 2:02.356. La Mazza took fourth and will be one of the drivers to watch. The Goldstein/Sundberg pairing claimed fifth in their category with Smurra, Ardagna Perez and Hernandez (the quicker of the two journalists) occupying the places behind them. Rota is in ninth with Frazza, Gomez Blanco, Segler, Bertanza (GT4) coming up next. Bertanza showed he had improved a lot over the morning session. At the back of the field is Sicart (GT4) and Pawlicek. Unfortunately Sergio Rota only ran a few laps after suffering a problem with his car and could not really push for a quick lap.